Los Angeles, April 29 (IANS): Actor-comedian Russell Brand has announced that he will be "taking the plunge" and getting baptised as it is an "opportunity to leave the past behind".

The comedian and actor posted a video and said that he was cementing his Christian faith after a difficult year, which included facing serious sexual assault accusations, reports pagesix.com.

In the video announcement, Brand said: "This Sunday, I’m taking the plunge. I’m getting baptised."

"What’s been explained to me is, it’s an opportunity to die and be reborn. An opportunity to leave the past behind and be reborn in Christ’s name."

Referencing a verse from the Bible, he added: “Like it says in Galatians, you can live as an enlightened and awakened person.”

The 'Rock of Ages' star said the prospect of baptism was "so inviting and beautiful."

"People are so cynical about the increasing interest in Christianity and the return to God, but to me, it’s obvious," he said.

“As meaning deteriorates in the modern world, as our value systems and institutions crumble, all of us become increasingly aware that there is this eerily familiar awakening and beckoning figure that we’ve all known all of our lives, within us and around us. And for me, it’s very exciting.”

The 48-year-old initially wanted to get baptised in the River Thames, but after discovering it had high levels of E. coli in it, he decided against it.

This new development comes months after the actor-comedian was accused of raping, sexually assaulting, and abusing four women for seven years.

Brand denied the allegations that first surfaced in September 2023.

He had said that he was “very, very promiscuous” in his past and that all sexual interactions he had at the time were “absolutely always consensual.”